Technically speaking winter doesn’t even start until next week.  Tell that to the shivering folks feeling betrayed by Mother Nature of late.

Lake Chapala’s fame for glorious year-round weather went down the tubes last week as a polar air mass blasted across the entire country.  Sure, we escaped the snow and sleet that swept through the northern states. Nonetheless, the plummeting thermometer sent me scrambling deep in my closet to pull out warm woolies I keep squirreled away for the cold snaps that occasionally crop up in December and January.

I was coping fairly well until last Monday dawned to overcast skies. Without the sunshine to which we’re so accustomed, the atmosphere turned bitter cold.  I slipped on an undershirt, sweater and jacket, socks and sneakers to venture out on morning chores.

As I chugged along the highway en route to Chapala I was aghast to see a foreign couple rambling along on foot dressed in shirt sleeves, shorts and sandals. Were they out of their minds? Even newly arrived snowbirds must come here equipped with outerwear appropriate for the chilly northlands they left behind. Damn! My lips were blue while they looked totally unfazed by the nasty turn in the weather.    

But the time I returned home, I was chilled to the bone. So I layered up more with a heavyweight sweat shirt and a worn out pair of ski socks saved from a former life in Colorado. It wasn’t enough to raise my body temperature. So I dived into bed beneath a stack of blankets and quilts and went into hibernation for the rest of the day.

Thankfully, outdoor conditions have improved slightly over the course of the week. Still, we’ve taken measures to warm up the inside of our typical Mexican house that lacks central heating, has toe-chilling tile floors and windows unprotected for heat loss.

We’ve cranked up the living room fireplace, burning through the pile of logs reserved to add a warm, cheery touch to the holiday ambience. We plugged in a space heater to take the frosty edge off the master bedroom, no matter that it will send the next electricity bill into the DAC stratosphere.   

I’ve been downing steaming cups of tea and oatmeal potions like there’s no tomorrow. Big pots of hearty soups have become menu items of choice. That helps bring momentary relief, but doesn’t quell my angst over what weathermen predict is still to come.

Cold spells accompanied by winter rains are all too common during January. And you can’t completely rule out the chance of snow.  Keep in mind the freak storm that blew in on December 13, 1997, blanketing Guadalajara in more than an inch of frosty white stuff that froze hundreds of poinsettias planted all over the metropolis for the season. And it even stirred up a flurry of snowflakes over Lake Chapala’s landscape.

Cheer up. This could be the year to dream of a white Christmas and building a snowman next to your backyard palm tree.